"As always, blame the Jews "
Don't you think that is a little harsh? I didn't find any anti-semitism in that article. It was relaying facts of how the Israelis traffic pills. It made mention of many other nationalities involved in this trafficking and was even intelligent enough not to be propogandic about how horrible ecstacy is (even if he did get a few facts wrong). Israel is a society with its positive and negative aspects, just like anywhere else.
I normally wouldn't care so much, but I'm currently taking a class on the conflict and have become frustrated that many intelligent attempts to critcize Israel become labelled anti-semetic and are thereby discredited without further consideration. And I personlly don't think that this article was so much critcizing the state.
"Israel is a mirror of United States culture only off 5-10yrs or so."
I in no way pretend to be an expert, but that is a very dangerous thing to say. While Israel does follow the US in terms of consumer culture and weaponry, thier government and other national institutions are very different from ours. There is not a clear distinction between church and state, and some government officials hold opinions that would not be tolerated here (for example quotes of how adherence to Jewish laws takes precedence over democracy). This is by no means all of the sate, or even a mojority, but questions of religious versus secualr law are not dealt with in this country on such a naional scale. One of the problems in the conflict, however, is that the media in this country portrays Israelis as being more like us than they really are. Although, I do admit that there are many stricking similarities.
Ok, back to my finals....
